I'll Wait For You
by CaughtByTheLight
Summary: Burning lungs, dirty dancing, night swimming and second chances...Loud music, tainted smoke, fiery kisses and racing hearts. Everyone knows what its like to be 18. Bade, Tandre, Jori Friendship
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone. I'm starting a new full length story! It's going to be AU because its set in New York, and Beck and Tori are siblings. This is another Bade story. It will have tons of Jori Friendship and Tandre Romance. Heads up here EVERYONE will be out of character to an extent. I'm still debating whether to have Robbie and Cat in this story or just have OCs fill their place. If I were to add Robbie he would be incredibly OOC to the point where it's not even believable. Updates for this story are going to be extremely sporadic because I'm struggling to find ample time to write nowadays. Enough rambling! Hope you enjoy the first chapter.**

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"Ugh, Tori, turn this crap off! It's terrible!" Jade made a face indicative of disgust, getting up from her position on the plush carpet and crossing Tori's room to eject the CD.

"Hey, cut it out! I liked that song!" Ignoring her friend's protest, Jade reached for the black CD case and scanned it for a disc that was more amicable to dancing. After she found one, she turned up the volume and began dancing around Tori's room. Tori rolled her eyes.

"You're crazy," she insisted, rolling over on her stomach on the bed and reaching for the remote. Jade refused to be called crazy, though, bobbing over to her friend and taking her by the hands, forcing her to stand up and dance with her. Tori resisted, playfully swatting her friend with a pillow. After a few more moments, Jade turned the CD player off completely and joined her friend on the bed.

"So, do you think my parents suspect yet that you're just coming over here to have sex with Beck after I'm asleep?" Tori teased, smiling widely. Jade rolled her eyes, but was obviously a little offended.

"Shut up, you know that's not how it is. I was friends with you before I even met Beck." Tori nodded.

"I know, I know. I was just messing with you." Jade had been dating her brother for almost 6 months, now. At first, it had made Tori somewhat uncomfortable. The idea of her brother and her best friend making out in the room next to hers was more than she was able to stomach, but she got accustomed to it after a while. Besides, she knew how happy they made each other.

They girls were having one of their patented "girls night". They got into their pajamas around 7 o'clock and then watched movies, listened to music and snuck some of Tori's parents alcohol until they fell asleep. However, truth be told, Tori did usually pass out first. Jade had found herself in Beck's room on several occasion when this had happened in the past. She wasn't sure if Tori had ever found out, but she didn't think she'd really mind, anyway.

Tori pulled a bottle of Vodka out from under her pillow that the girls had been slowly nursing throughout the night. She took a small swallow of it and twisted her face as it slid down her throat, burning her stomach. She handed it to Jade, who did the same.

"How have your parents never figured out that we steal their liquor, Tor?"

"Oh, I just fill the bottle back up with a little water before they wake up in the morning. They've never said anything." Jade nodded, taking another sip. The girls sat in silence for a few moments, watching some infomercial that was flashing images of a ridiculously priced, hand-held vacuum cleaner across the screen.

"Okay, so I've got to ask," Tori finally blurted out. Jade smiled, having known that this was coming at SOME point during the night.

"Have you and Beck...you know...yet?" Jade shook her head.

"Really?!" Tori squealed in disbelief. Jade nodded again, confirming her previous answer. "How? I mean, you guys are alone together A LOT. Don't think I don't know that you go over there sometimes after I fall asleep." Uh oh, Jade though. So she DID know. Tori was smiling, though, indicating that she really didn't mind.

"I don't know," Jade began, "I mean, it's not like we don't do...other stuff. We've come close a few times."

"Well, then why haven't you?" Tori was gripping her pillow tightly to her chest, surprised at how eager she was to hear about her own BROTHER'S sexual activities. Usually, that would have disgusted her. Something about the fact that it was Beck and Jade intrigued her, though.

"I guess it's my fault. I mean, I'm just not ready. I'm sure that if I told him I was, he'd have no problem with it."

"I think that's probably the understatement of the century," Tori joked. Jade smiled.

"Yeah. I know he does...He's an 18-year-old guy, of COURSE he does!"

"Do you love him?" Jade didn't even have to think about her answer. It was instinctive. It spilt from her lips more naturally than even she had expected.

"Yes."

"Well, are you guys IN love?"

"Yes, more so than I ever could have imagined."

"So what makes you think you aren't ready?" Jade shrugged, getting up from the bed and crossing the room to look at herself in the mirror. She was wearing short black Sophie shorts and a long-sleeved royal blue t-shirt that said "New York University Fencing Club" on it. She'd gotten it at the thrift store several years ago. Her jet black hair was pulled up into a messy bun that managed to look strategically placed, even in all of it's haste. Tori watched her friend look at herself in the mirror, unable to help but envy her slightly. She had always though of Jadel as being the most beautiful girl she'd ever met, and sometimes secretly wished that she could be her...even if it was just for a day. She shook the feeling quickly, though, and smiled at her goofy friend as she watched Jade reach for a Cat In The Hat hat that Beck had won for Tori last year at the State Fair.

"I don't know. Maybe I am ready," she mused, removing the hat from her head and turning around to face her friend. "I'm sure it would be great...I mean, he's WONDERFUL at all the other stuff..." Tori put up her hand.

"Woah, he's still my brother." Jade nodded, sitting down in a swivel chair and resting her feet up on Tori's desk.

"I don't know what the hold-up is. I'm sure it'll happen eventually. It only makes sense for Beck to be my first. At this point, I can't even imagine myself with anyone else." Tori nodded. She couldn't imagine Jade with anyone but her brother, either.

"Just promise me you'll tell me everything about it." Jade stopped her swiveling.

"Really? Everything?" Tori smiled.

"I'll try to forget that he's my brother for that one conversation."

"Speaking of your stupid brother, where is he tonight?"

"He went to some concert at NYU with Andre. He actually told me to tell you that he'd be back around 2 am, in case you wanted to 'come say hi'." Tori emphasized the last portion, making the connotations of Beck's words quite clear. Jade couldn't help but giggle and become giddy with the prospect of seeing Beck so soon. She saw him every day, but she got butterflies in her stomach every time. Tori saw this and made note if it.

"You really do love my dumbass brother, don't you?" Jade smiled, bringing her right hand up to her neck and nervously fingering the thick hemp necklace there that Beck had bought for her impulsively on their first date to the mall. There were several other necklaces there, mostly thin multicolored ones that she'd braided from string and that had since become tainted with swimming pool bleach and limp from the waters of multiple showers, but Beck's hemp one always stood out.

"You don't mind if I...'go say hi', do you?" Jade asked shyly. Tori threw the lime green pillow she'd been holding at her love-struck friend, readjusting herself on the bed.

"No, loser, of course I don't mind. Just be careful not to wake me up with all of your moaning and crap." Tori teased, unable to let her friend off so easily without throwing in a last-ditch quip. "It's only midnight, though. I'm kind of tired so I'm going to go to sleep. Tell Beck I said I hope he and Andre had fun at their concert." Tori switched off the light beside her bed and turned over underneath the covers to face the window. Jade made her way to the floor beside her friend's bed in the dark. She decided to get a few hours of sleep before seeing Beck.

"Pst, Jade!" Jade raised her head slowly from the floor, opening her eyes to complete darkness.

"Jade...you awake?" She propped herself up on both elbows, looking over at the door and waiting for her eyes to adjust. She glanced up at the clock. 2:17 am. When she looked back at the door, she could faintly make out Beck's silhouette. The door was cracked open and he was whispering to her from the other side.

"Yeah, I'm up," she groggily managed. Careful not to wake Tori, she got up from the floor and joined him on the other side of the door. It was dark in the hallway, too, but the light from the bathroom at the end of it provided at least some luminance.

"Hi," she whispered, smiling up at him. He was wearing dark jeans and a white t-shirt that clung tightly to his body. It had apparently been raining outside, since the shirt was almost entirely transparent and his shaggy brown hair was damp. He jerked his head, shaking some of the excess water off. She smoothed her hands over his chest and then wrapped them around his waist, feeling the muscles of his pecs and back beneath her hands.

"Hi," he replied, wrapping her in his arms and bending down to place a kiss on her forehead.

"Weren't you wearing a jacket?" she asked, realizing now exactly how cold he must have been.

"No, I'll be okay. Come on, let's go to my room."

He took her hand and led her to the end of the hallway. They went through the last door on the left, ascending a staircase that stopped at the top of Beck's attic room. It was a slightly unfinished room, but it was enormous. The walls were still made of unpainted wood, but they sloped down on two sides and were dressed with one inset window on each and a huge skylight over his bed. Posters of "Depeche Mode", "Def Leopard" and "The Rolling Stones" lined the walls and dirty clothes and books littered the floors. Besides his queen-sized, oak-framed bed, the only other pieces of furniture in the gigantic room was a desk, two end-tables on either side of the bed, a book shelf and a dresser. For how gigantic the room was, it seemed sparsely furnished. An electric guitar sat on a stand in the corner, along with an amp and some sort of electrical music mixing machine that Beck had never quite been able to explain properly to her. All in all, it was a typical teenage boy's room.

With his hand still clasped tightly around her wrist, Beck led her over to his bed. No lights were on in the room, and the beginning of what looked like a severe thunderstorm was pounding effervescently against the skylight above them. The moon was huge and brilliant, casting at least some light into the attic. The navy sheets and comforter on his bed were soft but messy, and he apologized weakly as they sat down. She smiled, shaking her head as she leaned into a kiss that they'd both been yearning and anticipating since their eyes had adjusted in the dark that night. He turned, letting one of his hands rest heavily on her thigh and the other explore her back.

"So, did you and Tori have fun tonight?" he whispered, having broken the kiss and was now rubbing circles with both of his thumbs on the inside of her wrists.

"Yeah, but you know, we always have a lot of fun. We just talked and stuff...and drank," Beck smiled. He knew that his sister and his girlfriend had a lot of fun together, and it made him happy to hear. Jade had always been best friends with Tori, even when she had been overweight and lonely. That was what Beck had noticed first about her- her since of compassion and total disregard to what anyone else thought of her. She was her own person, and she would do anything for anyone she cared about. Her heart was bigger than anyone else's he'd ever encountered.

"Did you and Andre have fun at your concert?" He nodded, kind of scanning the room with his eyes.

"Yeah, it was fun. It was a local band, but I got a signed poster. I need to find somewhere to put it, though. I wish you could have been there," she giggled softly, running a hand over his back and kissing his shoulder.

"You didn't hook up with any hot college chicks, did you?" Jade teased, leaning her head against Beck's shoulder.

"Well, you know," he complied, taking both of her hands in his and stroking her arm, "this one girl was kind of all over me. I almost did it, but I didn't think my girlfriend would've liked that very much." Jade raised her head and looked him in the eyes, a glimpse of something genuinely concerned flashing over her face. Beck smiled.

"Relax, sweety, I was just kidding." He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her tightly into his side as the rain picked up over their heads. "Besides, even if I wanted to, I don't think I could find a girl I was more attracted to than you." This threw Jade for a loop. She obviously knew that Beck was attracted to her, but he had never verbally voiced it outside of an intimate moment of passion, and even then it's simplicity and endearing quality had been blurred by needy words like "hot" and "fuck". Something about the way he said "girl" and "attracted" made him seem so vulnerable and boyish, and she loved it.

"Really?" she asked hopefully. He laughed briefly and sweetly at the fact that she had never truly known that before, when he had known it since the first time he'd seen her.

"I can't believe you don't know that, babe. Jade I could never, in a thousand years on this Earth, find another single person who I could love and want as much as you. Never." Oddly enough, the very first thing that she noticed about his profession was his use of the word "babe". It still amazed her how that didn't bother her. When other boys had used that name with her in the past, it had seemed demeaning and unnatural. Something about the way he said it fit, though.

"Hey Beck..."she began, somewhat apprehensively, "does it ever...frustrate you that we haven't had sex yet?" Beck was visibly surprised by this question. He turned to look at her, furrowing his brow slightly.

"What- uh, what do you mean?" Then, before she could answer, he continued. "Beck, where would you get that idea? You don't think- I mean, I've never been too pushy about it, have I? If I have, listen, I didn't mean to. It's just that sometimes I see you and, you know, I get kind of caught up in the moment, but if you want me to-" Jade placed a finger of his mouth, silencing him.

"Shhh, sweety, it's okay. That's not why I asked. You've never pressured me into doing anything that I didn't absolutely want to do. I just asked because Tori asked me tonight if we ever had, and I told her 'no', but then we talked about it and I realized I didn't really know if I had a reason not to anymore. Plus, you're 18 and you're a guy and we've been dating for like half a year and I just thought that meant that maybe you were expecting something, and I didn't want to let you down." Jade was now nervously playing with her hair, obviously having made herself uncomfortable and now feeling embarrassed. Beck just sat there shocked with his mouth slightly agape. He couldn't believe his ears.

"Jade, I want you to listen really carefully to me, okay? I want you to hear everything I'm about to say, because I don't want there to ever be any question about this again. I don't expect anything from you. Every day, I wake up and the very first thing I think about is how incredibly, insanely, impossibly lucky I am that you would ever want to share yourself with me. Anything you offer to me, I'll gladly take it. No matter how small or large it is, I will always be happy with it, just because it's part of you. I don't care how old I am, or how many other people are doing it, or how long we've been dating. If you want to wait until you're married...then I'll just hope to God that I'm the man you decide to meet at the end of the aisle." Jade couldn't believe she had found a guy who was so understanding. Finally, after years of believing that a sentimental, sensitive, caring guy was an oxymoron, Jade had finally found one who could seemingly read her mind and tell her exactly whatever it was that she needed to hear.

"Thank you, Beck," she whispered simply, burying her head in his chest and wrapping her arms around him. He kissed her forehead and rubbed her shoulders gently.

"No problem, babe. You just tell me whenever you're ready, and I'll be here waiting...at least trying to be patient." She smiled into his chest, leaning into him and forcing his body down onto the mattress.

Before she could rest her head completely on his chest, he reached down and lifted his shirt up and over his head in one swift motion. Jade watched in an almost hypnotic state as the defined muscles of his stomach contracted with his motions. He swung the shirt across the room before unzipping his fly, wadding up his rain-dampened jeans and doing the same with them. He laid his head back down on the pillow with a "thump", sliding one arm around her and bringing the thick pile of sheets and comforters up around their bodies. They laid there like that for a while, staring up at the gleaming moon and dancing raindrops through the skylight. They didn't worry about anyone finding them there. They knew that Beck's parents would be up and out of the house running weekends errands by 7:00 the next morning, and Tori would know better than to come searching for her friend. They had done this several times before- falling asleep in each other's arms. It really was quite amazing that they'd never made it into anything more. They both knew what this was about, though. It wasn't about sex, or passion, or desire. It was about need. It was about the need of being with one in the absence of all the complexities that wear them out and weigh them down during the day. It was about appreciating one another, and knowing that they would never find anything like this again.

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**How was the first chapter? Did Jade and Tori's seem a little believable? Review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! Thanks for all the nice reviews! I didn't expect to have the time to update this so quickly, so enjoy the quick update because it's probably going to be the only one lol. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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"Dude, there's NOTHING on TV! Rainy Saturday afternoons suck," Andre complained, as he sat on Beck's bed and flipped through the channels of the small television that sat on the desk opposite him. Beck was sitting on a stool in the corner, attempting to tune his guitar and not paying much attention to the television OR his friend.

"You want to go catch a movie?" Andre asked, shutting off the TV all together and collapsing backwards onto Beck's bed. Beck was still not looking up from his guitar.

"I don't know, man," Beck answered reluctantly. "I'm going into the city with Jade later tonight, and I've got stuff to do before then." Andre rolled his eyes. It seemed like all his best friend had been doing for the past 6 months was hang out with Jade. It wasn't that he didn't like Jade. He knew what a wonderful person she was, and how happy she made Beck, but he couldn't help but harbor a little resentment for the girl who was slowly stealing away his best friend. Instead of voicing these things, however, Andre just nodded and continued to stare up at the skylight. Beck noticed his friend's silence and put down his guitar.

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry. I know I've been spending a lot of time with Jade lately. If you want, you can come with us!" Beck offered genuinely. Andre seemed hesitant, though.

"Eh, I don't know. I don't really want to play third wheel."

"Oh, come on, you won't be a third wheel! If it makes you feel any better, I'll invite Tori and we can all go together!" Andre rolled the possibility of this over in his mind.

"Where are you guys going, anyway?"

"Just to this new club. You have to be 21 to drink, but you only have to be 18 to get in. It's supposed to be pretty good." Beck got up from where he'd been residing on the stool in the corner and crossed the room to sit at the desk, facing Andre. He sat down in it backwards, straddling it and leaning forwards against the backrest.

"The girls are only 17, though. How are they supposed to get in?" Beck smiled and shrugged.

"I may have asked someone to make a few calls and get some fake ID's made. That's just a possibility, though," Beck joked. "I can have one for Tori by the end of the night. Be here at 8 and we can all leave together." Andre nodded in agreement. Going to the opening of a supposedly high-profile club did sound like a lot of fun, and he had to admit, he'd always had somewhat of a thing for Beck's little sister. Even when she was overweight, there was something about her open and supportive nature that drew him to her. Now that she was hot...well, that didn't hurt.

"Hey, I'm going to go pick some things up at the store for my parents and then come back here to get ready. I'll catch you later tonight, man." With that, Beck palmed the plush football that was resting on his desk and threw it at Andre's chest before. He grabbed his keys off the nightstand and headed for the stairs leading down to the second floor.

"You can stay here for as long as you want," he offered, before disappearing from the landing. Andre didn't comply, though. He followed Beck down the stairs, leaving the room alone.

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"Shimmer brown or powder blue?" Jade asked, holding up two different cases of eye shadow to her friend. Tori cogitated carefully about this before finally taking the brown from Jade.

"Good, because I wanted to wear the blue. It matches my pants!" Jade smiled and began applying just a thin layer of the make-up to her eyelids. Surprising, for being as into fashion as she was, she didn't like going overboard on make-up. She thought it made her look trashy.

"Ugh, Jade, isn't this so exciting?! I've never been to a club before!" Jade turned to look at her friendly doubtfully.

"What? Yes you have! We just went to one last week!"

"Ew, that doesn't count, it was on Staten Island! I'm surprised we didn't get STD's just breathing the AIR in that place!" Tori joked, applying the last touches of her eyeliner and throwing the pencil back into it's case.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, turning to Jade and allowing her to get a full view. She always seemed to want to try just a little bit harder to look nice whenever she was with Jade. It frustrated her that her friend seemingly never had to try at all- that just she woke up every morning looking miraculously stunning. When she walked down the street next to Jade, she knew that guys stared. She wanted them to stare at her, too.

"Gorgeous!" Jade earnestly replied, flashing a huge, genuine smile. The two girls did look stunning. Jade was wearing an Army green corduroy skirt and a tight, black, long-sleeved shirt. Her hair hung down loosely around her shoulders. It was a simple ensemble, but it fit her well. Jade, on the other hand, was slightly more casual. She wore a pair of long, khaki Navy blue plants and a white tank top. Her hair, in it's usual style, was up in a messy bun. Tori couldn't help but note how short a time it had taken Jade to get ready, but how naturally beautiful she still looked.

"Is Beck even home?" Jade asked, glancing quickly at the clock above Tori's TV.

"Yeah, he's upstairs getting ready." As if on cue, the door to Tori's room suddenly opened and Beck walked in. Immediately, Jade's eyes lit up. She almost instantly noted how cute and charming he looked. He was wearing dark jeans and a thin, light blue fitting T-shirt. His hair was gelled, and though Tori and Andre often teased him about it, she had always thought that the looked suited him. What she noticed before all of these things, though, was the same engaging thing that she noticed almost every time she saw him. Around his right wrist, he was wearing 3 bracelets, all of which she'd either given to him or made for him. Two were similar to the necklaces she wore. They were made of red and white string and then black and white string. She'd made them knowing that those color combinations meant eternity and love, but she hadn't actually expected him to wear them, having thought that he would interpret them as being huge threats to his masculinity. He wore them, nonetheless. The third bracelet was made of black string, and it was strung with 4 silver beads that spelt out "Jade". She smiled.

"Hey ladies. You're both looking lovely tonight." Beck took Jade under his arm when she came over and leaned into his chest, patting his stomach playfully with her hand.

"Where's Andre?" Tori asked, with a hint of nervousness on her voice. When she had found out about her older brother's friend coming, she had immediately panicked. Andre was very confident and funny, which sometimes intimidated her. He was also incredibly attractive, though, and she got small butterflies in her stomach when she thought about spending most of the evening with him. She knew that Beck and Jade would most likely detach themselves during the night- not consciously- and she would be left alone with Andre.

"I think I just heard his car pull up, actually, so we should probably head downstairs."

Beck, Jade and Tori were met on the front porch by Andre. He had just gotten out of his car, and was preparing to knock before they exited the house. His eyes were drawn to Tori before anything else, and his first thought was of how he'd never noticed just how long her legs were. His second was of how short that skirt was.

"Oh, hey man. You ready?" Beck asked, not having noticed the jaw-drop that his friend had just made in regards to his little sister. He pushed past them and headed for the car with Jade underneath his arm. The sun was already setting, and they needed to hurry if they were going to make the next fairy in time get to the club opening by 8 pm.

They all piled into Beck's car- Jade in the passenger's seat and Andre and Tori in the back- and pulled out of the driveway.

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The music was earsplitting. After having waited in line for almost an hour and a half, all four were finally admitted into the club, and the first thing that met them was absolutely earsplitting music. It was a deluded combination of techno and rock, but there were no words and no one recognized the beat. The club was decorated with neon light, dark leather furniture and contemporary artwork painted on the walls. Even though it had only opened a matter of hours before, it already reeked of cigarette smoke. It was on two levels- the one you entered on and a raised, suspended platform that could be reached by a winding staircase located on either side of it. Everywhere, people were dancing and groping one another. Men stinking of cologne were whispering into the ears of women with impossibly huge breasts and skimpy dresses. On the side, bartenders were juggling bottles and putting on shows involving setting the entire countertop on fire. The 4 teenagers felt like children in a candy store.

"This is awesome!" Beck yelled over the music. The other 3 nodded, still somewhat hypnotized by the overwhelming grandeur of the place. Conforming completely with Tori's earlier prediction, Beck took Jade by the hand and led her away into the sea of gyrating strangers. Tori and Andre were, as expected, left alone.

"So, uh, you want me to get you something to drink? According to my ID, I'm 22," Andre offered, trying desperately to lighten the mood. Tori had never drank outside the comfort and security of her own home, but something about the softness in Andre's voice and the familiarity in his eyes made her feel at ease. She smiled at him, sliding her hand into his.

"Yeah, sure okay."

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After an hour or so of dancing, Beck and Jade found themselves sitting alone in a large, circular booth near the back of the club. They were both warn out and sweaty from the stifling combination of their dancing and the humid air. Jade scooted over beside Beck and relaxed into him as he rested his arm on the seat behind her head.

"Tired?" he asked, kissing her on the cheek. She nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. It was only a little after 11 pm, and the club was as full as ever, but both of them were beginning to be worn down by fatigue.

"I wonder what Tori and Andre have been doing this whole time?" Beck wondered aloud. "We left them a while ago. I hope they're having fun." Knowing about the "secret" crush that her friend had on Andre, Jade assured Beck that they mostly likely were.

"She likes him, doesn't she?" he asked, having picked up on the connotations of Jade's statement immediately.

"What makes you think that?" He shrugged.

"I don't know. She gets kind of nervous around him, the way I get around you." Jade straightened herself from the leaning position she'd been in and turned in the seat to look at him.

"You mean 'the way you used to get around me'?" she asked. He smiled simply and shook his head, taking one of her hands in his.

"No." Before Jade had time to lean in and kiss Beck for this particularly touching display of affection, they were interrupted by the abrupt presence of a rather burly man standing on the other side of their table.

"Can we help you?" Beck asked. The man was in his early 20's- probably a college student- and was rather attractive. He was quite obviously drunk, though, and was eyeing Jade in a way that made her increasingly uncomfortable.

"This young lady right here can help me by agreeing to dance with me." He slurred his speech when he talked. Beck protectively and firmly wrapped his arm around Jade's shoulder.

"Actually, she's with me, so I don't think so." This didn't discourage the man, though, who was now leaning rather aggressively against the table.

"Aw, come on, buddy! Lighten up!" With this, he leaned across the table and grabbed Jade's wrist, causing her to gasp out in a moment of panic. He pulled on her arm rather forcefully, bringing her right out of the booth. Beck had been in a state of disbelief that this man would be so forward, but this action snapped him out of it. He quickly slid out of the booth.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing? Let go of her!" The man probably outweighed Beck by at least 30 pounds, but that thought didn't even enter his mind. The only thought in his entire head was that he was going to make this man let go of Jade or die trying. The man eyed Beck, smiling crookedly in a way that managed to contest his humanity. Finally, he dropped Jade's wrist.

"Okay, no problem. You want me to let her go? I'll let her go." Beck could sense that this wasn't over, though. Then, just as he'd suspected, the man wound up his arm and forcefully smacked Jade on her ass. Her eyes widened and tears began to well up. She was so enraged that someone would do something like that, that she couldn't even muster up the strength to do anything about it. She looked at Beck, but it was already over. Before she even had time to take notice, Beck had already punched the man square in the face and was now on top of him on the floor, punching him repeatedly.

"Beck, stop it! You're going to get us kicked out of here! Stop!" Deep down, she didn't want him to stop, though. Something about the way in which he uninhibitedly and instinctively rushed to her "rescue" thrilled her. Plus, that bastard deserved whatever he got.

"How does that feel, huh?! Touch her again! I dare you!" Beck screamed at the man whom had compromised the one thing that remained sacred to him. He knew he wasn't thinking clearly, and was fully aware of the mass of bystanders that had accumulated, but he didn't care. The punches had to be thrown.

Finally, after the man's face was a bloodied mess of bruises and cuts, Beck got up from the floor. He looked up and scanned the room. A crowd of at least 40 people had completely stopped whatever it was they'd been doing to watch the scene. He nodded to them, swallowing deeply and taking Jade's hand. Carefully, he made his way through the crowd to the front of the cub.

"Come on," he said gingerly, "let's find Andre and Tori and get the hell out of here." Jade hadn't said anything through all of this. At the forefront of her mind at that moment was the need to get as far away from that club as possible- both because of the unconscious man on the floor and because she knew that if they didn't, Beck would most likely be arrested.

Suddenly, she was very cold. It wasn't a normal kind of cold, though, and it sent chills and goosebumps racing over her skin. She buried her head into Beck's chest and allowed him to rub her back for a few moments before he kissed her forehead and looked down into her eyes.

"I'm sorry. You know I couldn't just let him touch you like that, though, don't you?" Jade forced a smile, nodding her understanding. He nodded back at her.

"Good. Now," he said, looking up and scanning the room with his eyes, "let's find those two and split."

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**Fun Fact: This actually happened to me before when I was out with a couple of friends and me and my friend spent the night in jail. But it was worth it. I don't have respect for guys that pull shit like that.**

**Anyway did you guys like the chapter? Review!**

**Till next time :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. Thanks for all the great reviews, follows, and favorites. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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"Where the hell could they be?" Beck wondered aloud, realizing for the first time the unbearable sting of smoke that was clouding his eyes. Andre and his sister had seemingly disappeared altogether from the nightclub.

"I don't know," Jade managed between besieged coughs, "but I can't breathe. We need to get out of here." Beck nodded. Somehow, their metropolitan night of drinking and dancing had headed rapidly downhill, spiraling into a sleazy swarm of sweaty bodies and contaminated air. The club seemed sinister, almost, and Jade found herself hating it. Her body gravitated towards the exit, but Beck's hand was gripping steadfast to hers. He didn't seem to notice her impending panic attack. He was too busy scanning the room. Suddenly, his eyes found something and focused in.

"They're over by the bar! Come on!" Beck didn't let go of her hand, pulling her behind him through the sea of coldhearted strangers. Once they got closer, it was quite apparent that Tori and Andre were having a much better time than them. Their bodies were pushed close together, and they seemed oblivious to the world around them. They were laughing loudly and gesturing dramatically. They were most definitely drunk.

"Come on," Beck shouted in a demanding tone. "We've got to get out of here." Andre and Tori stared blankly at him, totally unaffected by his words.

"Wha? How come?" Tori asked through slurred speech and slit eyes. This caught Beck's attention immediately, and he jerked his head towards Andre.

"Dude, you got my sister drunk?" he asked in an accusing tone. Jade smacked his arm.

"Beck, you just punched a guy! This isn't the time! Come on!" Upon her revelation, Tori and Andre both turned their gazes back to Beck.

"What!? You punched someone?" Andre asked bewildered. Beck rolled his eyes, grabbing Tori's jacket and tugging on Andre's shirt sleeve.

"I'll tell you about it later. Come on." With that, the four wove their way in and out of the crowd, blindly heading towards something that may or may have not been the exit. After several minutes of directionless searching, they found the bright neon sign that they'd come in by. They busted out of the front doors, each one taking their respective gasps of fresh air upon reaching the sidewalk.

"Come on, the car's this way," Beck instructed, leading the other 3 rapidly in the direction of the valet parking lot. Once they'd all piled back into the car and pulled into traffic, and after everyone had the chance to catch their breath and collect their thoughts, the questions began flying.

"Dude, what they hell was that?" Beck's jaw clenched tightly as he struggled to not say anything out of line about Andre's irresponsible conduct with his sister. He decided that one fight per night definitely met his quota. Instead, he would just answer the questions.

"I got into a fight. We had to get out before security found me."

"What?! No, back up. You got into a fight? That doesn't sound a whole lot like you, man. What happened?"

"I don't know. It started off as being nothing, really. This drunken guy stumbled up to our table and asked Jade to dance. I told him to get lost, which I guess he didn't like too much, so he grabbed her by the arm." Tori, even in her drunken state, spoke up during this portion of the story.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry!" Jade remained silent, clinging tightly to Beck's sweatshirt and sitting with her head turned to face the window.

"Anyway, I got up from the booth and told him to let her go, at which point he grabbed her ass. I just…I don't know, I just lost it."

"Damn, man, that's wild!" Andre seemed more excited about this news than disgusted by it. Beck was outwardly unaffected.

"Let's just not talk about it anymore, okay?"

The remainder of the ride home was spent in silence. Beck clasped tightly to the steering wheel, clenching his jaw against words that were best left unspoken and turning his knuckles white until they went numb. Jade leaned her head against the window pane, secretly gazing into the eyes of her own reflection, rather than some abstract object in the distance. Tori remained tipsy, but what judgment she had left told her not to break the thick silence. Andre stared at the back of the seat in front of him with the nagging feeling plaguing him that he had, in some way, let his best friend down that night. Long Island and Manhattan had never seemed so far apart.

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"Hey, about tonight…" Andre wasn't exactly sure of what words would fit best trailing after those so he just stopped there. He pulled the shirt he'd been wearing over his head, throwing it on the floor besides Beck's bed and trading it for a plain white t-shirt from his gym bag, Beck hadn't spoken a word but a handful of word since they'd returned to the house. It was approaching 2 am, and even as the boys got ready for bed, an uncomfortable tension hung between them as heavy as wet clothes on a wire.

"Yeah?" Beck asked, looking at him inquisitively. If Andre had looked closer, he would have seen the look had actually more challenging than inquisitive. He sighed deeply, scratching his head and searching for the words.

"I know I shouldn't have let Tori drink so much. I guess I just forgot that most girls don't hold their liquor as well as us. I feel really bad about it." Beck nodded, still not verbally acknowledging Andre's apology or even his presence. Andre became frustrated.

"Come on, man, throw me a bone here. What do you want me to do?"

"Do you like her?" Beck's question was abrupt, particularly so since it was accented by his recent noticeable lack of words.

"What? Do I like who?"

"Tori. Do you like her?" Andre didn't know what to say. He felt as if this was some sort of test, as Beck was constantly asking such questions that he actually had no interest in knowing the answers to, but rather just wanted to prove a point. He felt trapped- like no answer he provided could possibly be the right one.

"I- I don't know. I mean, she's gorgeous. She's nice…" Andre chuckled, realizing how immature and childish he was sounding. "What do you mean by 'like her'?" Beck threw down a pair of shorts he had been holding in his hand.

"Just answer the question, Andre." His words weren't threatening or demanding. There was no malice or bitterness or confrontation in his voice. Instead, he sounded almost pleading, as if he were tired of beating around the bush and eager to have his answers so he could move on to whatever else might have been ailing him. Andre decided to give him his honesty.

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I do." Beck nodded again, but this time not mockingly so.

"Okay, then." Andre knew that wasn't the end of his statement. He shouldn't be so lucky. "Then take care of her. That's all I ask. If you actually like her, they I can be happy for you, but if you're just trying to get my little sister drunk to get her into the sack…" Andre cut him off there, concern filling his face and voice.

"Woah, is that what you think? What, just because she's younger than me? What about you and Jade, huh? Are you just trying to 'get her in the sack'? He was surprised to find that he was getting defensive. Beck took a step towards Andre, pointing an accusatory finger.

"Watch what you say, Andre. You know that's not even close to the truth."

"Then watch what you say, alright? Listen, I actually like Tori. I mean, for the first time, I'm really caring about what a girl has to say. When I'm with her, I don't even NOTICE anyone else. This is different, okay, man? You're right, I should have taken better care of her tonight, and I won't let anything like that happen again, but it's not fair for you to assume that my intentions with her are anything but admirable. Because you're wrong." Beck just stood there for a moment, facing off with his best friend. He felt like an asshole. He'd unfairly jumped to conclusions based solely on Andre's past experience with girls. He softened and put a hand on Andre's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, man. This whole night has been really stressful. I didn't mean to take it out on you. If you like Tori, then that's great, and if she has to be with anyone, then I'm glad it's you." Beck smiled to puncuate his point, and after exchanging a slap on the back, the two boys had forgotten that any dispute had ever existed between them by the time their heads met their pillows.

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"Tor, you haven't said anything in 2 hours. You're not okay. Now, what's wrong?" The two girls were lying on Tori's bed in their pajamas. Tori had long since given up on early-morning television or any hopes of getting Jade to actually enjoy the music that she'd been playing on the stereo. Instead, her friend chose to sit stoically on her bed and stare out into the open chasm of darkness that loomed outside her window.

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine. She turned her head long enough to utter those words before returning to gaze to the window.

"Don't give that crap. We've been best friends for years, and I KNOW when you're not okay. Tell me what's wrong." She scooted closer to her friend, hoping that the sentiment would provide some sort of subconscious mental support. Jade sighed deeply, clutching a pillow to her chest.

"It's hard to explain, I guess." That was something, Tori thought. She would work from there.

"Try me."

"I just feel so…dirty." Tori didn't really understand, but she wanted to. If Jade was talking about her encounter with the anonymous man earlier that evening, she couldn't really figure out what about that would make her feel dirty.

"Why? Worse could have happened, you know. So the guy touched your ass. Big deal. It was over in like a second and you never have to see him again." Jade turned to look at her friend, averting her gaze from the window for the second or third time that night.

"I just told you it was hard to explain. I don't know why it bothers me so much. It's not like guys haven't touched me before. This just felt…different." Still, Tori wasn't seeing the big picture. What was more she was becoming a little agitated at what she felt was a severe overreaction to a not-so-complex situation.

"Come on, Jade, it was no big deal. If it were me, I might have been even been flattered." Jade shot her a confused look that somehow also hinted at enragement.

"What? How could you say that? Tori, this man was disgusting. He was drunk, and huge, and perverted. When he touched me, I felt sick."

"At least he wanted to touch you," Tori murmured underneath her breath.

"What?" Jade's tone was sharp and biting, and Tori was being less understanding.

"Come on, Jade! I know you see all those guys who stare at you when you walk down the hallway. Don't act like you don't know its happening. There probably isn't a guy at school who doesn't want to get into your pants. Why can't you just be happy? So what if you have to encounter a few pervs every now and then? I'd give anything to be like that." Jade shook her head, the beginning of teardrops welling up in her eyes.

"Don't say that," she whispered, letting the streams of wetness streak her face and fall freely onto the pillow that sat on her lap.

"I know it must be pretty hard- being wanted by every guy you meet. That seems like a lot of bad luck." Tori was becoming increasingly bitter and sharp with every word, practically spitting them from her tongue by the end. Jade was confused. What had she done to deserve this?

"Tori, what's the matter with you?"

"What's the matter with ME? How about what's the matter with YOU? One guy- a COLLEGE guy grabs your ass and you freak out! God, Jade, wake up! Don't you realize how many girls would kill to be you? To look like you?"

"Yeah, that's just it!" Jade was yelling now, matching Tori in both the strength and volume in her voice. She threw the pillow she'd been holding on the floor. "They want to look like me! Or they want to have sex with me! Or they want to grab my ass. Let's completely forget about the fact that I'm a human being! Until Beck, no guy I'd ever dated even knew my BIRTHDAY! No one asks me what I want to do when I grow up, or what my favorite holiday is, or why I like curly fries more than straight ones! If everyone loves me so goddamn much, Tori, then why can't more than 3 people in our entire school tell me that I like sailing and coffee ice cream?" Tori had nothing to say. She was speechless. Jade continued.

"Trust me, Tori, you don't want to be me. Forget the hair, and the smile, and the nice clothes, alright? Forget that I've dated half the football team, and that I used to be the captain of the cheerleading squad. At the end of the day, I'm just like everyone else, but I don't even have all of the relationships to show for it. I have you and Beck, and that's it. Maybe getting molested by some sleazy pedophile in a smoke-filled nightclub just SCREAMS of glamour and vanity to you, but not to me." Both were quiet for a few moments.

"I- I'm sorry. I don't know what to day." Jade shook her head and continued to look out the window as if she'd never stopped.

"You don't have to say anything. Just know that…" She turned back to look at her best friend.

"I just wish you knew how beautiful you were."

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**How did you guys like the chapter? What were your favorite parts?**

**Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys I'm back with a new chapter! This chapter is pretty uneventful but I do introduce a new character to the story! I hope you like it!**

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"I just wish you knew how beautiful you were." Jade's words reverberated through Tori's head. She had never been called beautiful before- not from any lovelorn boy or jealous girlfriend. Even her parents preferred such words as "cute" and "ladylike", so her friend's words sent a wave of warmth flowing through her body.

"Jade, I- I don't know what to say. Let's just forget that I ever brought it up, okay? I was wrong." Jade nodded, finally dropping the pillow from the death grip that she'd had it in all night. For the first time since they'd left the club, her shoulders were not held back with such a rigid force and the pronunciation of lines and angry shadows on her face ran away.

"I know I sprung a lot on you at once. It wasn't your fault." Tori smiled weakly, rubbing her friends arm.

"Okay, good. Let's go to sleep. It's late and I'm pretty tired." The two girls climbed into the twin-sized bed together, facing their separate directions but naturally gravitating towards as they drifted off to sleep. They sought condolence and acceptance from each other, each in their own way, and even in their sleep. For a girl whose life had not started until her 16th year, and for another who searched desperately for some sort of absolution in imagine tinted by golden hair and a glossy smile, the comfort of a too-small bed was all that was required to heal their ailments that nights.

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"Hey, who's that?" Jade asked, shielding her eyes from the sun's unforgiving rays. She and Beck were standing on a grassy hill in front of the school, facing the street. A few minutes before, a black mustang pulled up to the sidewalk, and a group of girls had not hesitated to congregate around it. Beck shrugged.

"I don't know. He's in my History class. He just moved here. I think his name is Arthur, or something. The group of obnoxious girls was way too dense for Jade to decipher what it's mystery driver actually looked like, but something about the way in which he'd pulled so charismatically and smoothly up to the curb and had provoked a fan base before his feet even hit the pavement intrigued Jade.

"Where'd he move from?" she asked, still shielding her eyes in hopes of sneaking a peek at his face.

"Uh, Queens, I think. He seems like kind of an asshole, but maybe that's just me." Jade smiled and rolled her eyes discretely.

"Of course it's just you. You think every guy I ask you about is an asshole. Come on, let's go say hi." Jade grabbed Beck by the wrist and trotted down the hill to the sidewalk, just in time for the crowd of girls to disperse. Like a situation similar to the parting of the Dead Sea, the mystery Mustang driver was quite climatically revealed to the inquiring couple.

His most distinguishing and overt feature was his obvious Italian bloodline. He had dark hair and eyes, accented by deep olive skin and a somewhat hard exterior. He was leaning against his car, his legs crossed casually and his arms draped over the hood. His shirt was tight, revealing toned muscles and an expanse of tanned skin. He stared blankly at Beck. Obviously, they would have to make the first move.

"Hi," Jade chirped, "I'm Jade! Are you new here?" The Italian nodded but seemed unaffected, reaching up with his pinky finger to retrieve a piece of something that had been stuck in his teeth.

"Yeah. Is this like the welcoming committee?" Jade would have been offended, but something in his tone told her he was being serious. Maybe he wasn't as cold as his exterior let on.

"Oh, no, we were just curious about you. I like your car. What year is it?" Italy glanced back at his car as if rediscovering its existence.

"Oh, this? It's a '69. It was my dad's." There was a long awkward pause that was finally broken by Italy gesturing towards Beck.

"Who're you? He asked, his accent ringing out more prominently.

"Oh, uh, I'm Beck." He extended his hand, which Italy took. "I think you're in my History class. What's your name again?"

"Antonio," he said simply. Beck nodded dramatically.

"Oh, right, right. I knew it was something like that. And you're from Queens?" Antonio nodded.

"My parents just split and my dad moved back to Italy, so I'm staying here with my grandma for a while.

"You a senior?" Beck asked.

"No, 'fraid not. I could be, but I got held back a year." Beck looked sympathetic, but not particularly surprised.

"Oh, that's tough. What year?"

"Kindergarten."

"What?" Beck asked in disbelief. "I didn't know you could be held back in Kindergarten." This came out harshly and rudely than he even realized. Jade didn't miss his insensitivity, though, and she smacked him hard on his stomach.

"Well, apparently so. Something about me not getting the alphabet down. Who knows, though?" Jade nodded.

"Well, we've got to get going, but it was nice meeting you! If you're ever looking for something to do, don't hesitate to ask!" As Beck and Jade turned to leave, Antonio shouted out to get their attention.

"Hey! Are you two, you know…together?" They both seem a little shocked at the abruptness of the question, but Jade finally nodded 'yes'.

"Oh," Antonio stated flatly, more than just a little disappointment filling his voice. "That's a shame." He accented his comment by winking flirtatiously at her. With that, he climbed back into the driver seat of his '69 Mustang and sped away, leaving Beck with his mouth hanging open. He pointed in the direction of the speeding-away car.

"Did you see that!? He totally just came onto you! Right in front of me!" Jade grabbed his hand and began walking away in the direction of the parking lot.

"Oh, come on, you're overreacting. He was just messing around." She laced her fingers in his in an attempt at easing his insecurities, but he was obviously not letting it go.

"Not a big deal? He WINKED, for crying out loud! Who the hell WINKS?"

"Babe, he was just kidding. He knew we were together. He was being nice."

"Nice!? What would have been NICE was not coming onto my girlfriend in front of my face! Let me tell you something, we're NOT talking to that guy again." Jade looked up at Beck but still clung to his hand.

"Okay, honey, whatever you say." They made their way to his car in the student parking lot with Beck making a dramatized scene the entire way. Despite what he said, though, Jade couldn't help but think that this would not be their last time crossing paths with that stoic Italian with the classic car and olive skin.

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**So what do you guys think of Antonio? I know the story is progressing pretty slowly but just bear with me. Things will begin to pick up soon!**

** Don't forget to review! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I know the story is kinda going slow but be patient and stay with me! The story will get more interesting next few chapters I promise. In this chapter we meet another OC! Hope you enjoy!**

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"What about a movie?" Andre asked detachedly, thumbing through a black spiral notebook. He was sitting with Tori, Jade and Beck in a corner of the school's commons area. The four were lounging there underneath a large oak tree during their lunch period, discussing possible plans for the upcoming weekend. Andre sat on a small brick ledge that fenced in a raised garden with Tori at his side. Beck was leaning against the wall and Jade was laying causally sprawled out at his side with her head in his lap.

"No way, we do that like every weekend. No more movies, or clubs, or hanging out at our house"," Beck contested.

"Yeah!" Tori spoke up. "You guys are at our house like every day! It's you and Jade's turn to think of something to do," Tori teases, shoving Andre playfully in the shoulder. This surprised him, as they had not spoken much since that hectic night at the club. Still, something close to iridescent sparkled in her eyes when she smiled at him. He grinned back, feeling immediately like a loser, but not really regretting it.

"I've got an idea." Jade spoke up from her place on the ground. "There's a reservoir like 10 miles past my house that I didn't used to know was there. We could go check it out."

"What are we going to do at a big cement hole filled with water?" Andre asked skeptically. Jade shrugged, bending her neck backwards to catch boyfriend's best friend's eye and simultaneously shielding her eyes from the glare of the beating sun.

"I don't know. It beats seeing another bad movie, though."

"I think it sounds like a good idea," Beck offered, bending down at the waist to kiss the tip of Jade's nose. She smiled thankfully at him.

Meanwhile, Beck's attention was captured by a familiar gait that was making its way across the courtyard. The boy was wearing a royal blue Knicks shirt and jet black sunglasses to match his hair. Appropriate, Beck thought. The second generation Italian spotted the group of four and smiled weakly, changing his direction and making his way over to the group. Beck made no effort to conceal an exaggerated sigh.

"Beck and Jade, right?" he asked, sliding his thumbs underneath their respective shoulder straps after removing his sunglasses. Jade smiled warmly and nodded. Beck remained stoic.

"Antonio, this is Andre and Tori. Guys, this is Antonio. He just moved here from Queens." Jade introduced everyone, but Tori and Andre still dawned looks of confusion. They smiled politely but secretly wondered just who Antonio was and how Jade knew him.

"So, what're you guys doing?" he asked, trying desperately to make conversation and to not allow the conversation to thin out to an awkward pause.

"Uh, we were just walking about what we were going to do this weekend," Andre informed, leaning forward to rest his arms on his things and clasp his hands together. "We're thinking about the reservoir. Do you know anything about it?"

"I think I pass it sometimes on the back way to my grandma's."

"Well, hey, why don't you join us?" Jade asked emphatically. Beck spun his head around and shot her a confused and slightly worried look.

"What!?" he spat, unable to control his disappointment and disapproval. Jade eyed him, wordlessly begging him to be polite.

"Yeah, it'll be fun! We're going to go out there tonight. You can just meet us there, if you want." Antonio nodded and smiled.

"You know what, I think I'll take you up on that offer." He quickly scribbled down his number on a slip of paper and handed it to Jade, "I've got to get going now, but call me if anything changes." With that, he smiled once more and threw up a hand haphazardly to signal his departure. As he was walking away, Beck took the paper from Jade's hand and looked at it.

"Can you believe this guy!? This is the second time in a week that he's done something like this!"

"Beck, done something like what?" Jade asked, reflections of annoyance shading her voice. He held up the small piece of paper that he was holding.

"I don't know, maybe FLIRTED with you right in front of me? He could have given this to any one of us but, he gave it to you! Don't try and tell me he doesn't have some serious ulterior motives here." Jade took a deep breath and retrieved the paper from Beck's hand, folded it, and stuck it into her back pocket.

"Maybe it's because I'm the only one who wants to be nice to him! He's new here- I'm just trying to help him fit in. He seems like a nice enough guy. Plus, you know what else, his parents just got divorced. Give the guy a break." Beck turned his head away for a moment and watched Antonio as he disappeared into the administrative building. He turned back to face her.

"Fine, I'll give him a chance….but if comes onto you ONE MORE TIME-

"I know, I know, you'll punch him in the face, or do something equally as 'manly'," Jade mocked. Beck gave her an "I'm not amused" face, to which she replied by playfully sticking out her tongue and patting him softly on the leg. Dammit, he thought. She can get away with ANYTHING that way.

Just then, a multicolored Hacky Sack landed directly in the middle of the group. Andre picked it up and raised his head to see if he could decipher an owner, but was met by the face of girl standing just a few feet in front of him.

"Whoops, sorry about that," the girl apologized. "My friends and I were playing around. It must have just gotten away from us."

"That's okay." Andre nodded and handed the girl her ball back. It wasn't until she moved from underneath the shadow of the tree and got the sunlight out of her face that he actually saw how strikingly attractive she was. She had ringlets of long blonde hair that fell down her shoulder and piercing blue eyes. She was wearing several beaded necklaces and bracelets.

"My name's Ivy, by the way. You're Tori, right?" she asked, turning her head to brunette seated at Andre's right. Tori nodded.

"Yeah, I think we have Chemistry together," Tori replied. Ivy smiled and nodded.

"Right. Hey, do you mind if I ask who that guy is who was just over here? I saw him driving around in his Mustang the other day."

"Oh, uh, that's Antonio. He just moved here," Andre offered, realizing that he was the official spokesperson of the group to this pretty girl who had stumbled so unexpectedly into their lives.

"Are you guy's friends with him?" she asked.

"Like peas and carrots," Beck spoke up, the sarcasm dripping from his lips.

"Don't mind him," Tori warned. "He's just bitter. We don't know him that well, but we are going out to the reservoir with him tonight. He's a pretty nice guy." Ivy nodded politely.

"The reservoir? I didn't even know we had one of those around here."

"Apparently so," Andre shrugged. "You can come, too, if you want. Invite your friends. We can make a night of it." The other 3 turned to Andre, a bit unsure of why he had just invited this near stranger in on their evening plans. Tori was eyeing him especially closely.

"Hm, I might do that. Where is it?"

"Oh, uh, just like 4 or so miles down Meachum Road. There's a big steel gate, you can't miss it," Jade guided.

"Hey Ivy!" a lanky boy with shaggy brown hair yelled from across the courtyard. "You gonna bring us the ball back, or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!" she yelled back. "Well, I'd better go, but thanks for telling me about the reservoir. And that Antonio guy's going to be there?" she asked, obviously quite intrigued by him.

"That's what I'm told," Beck quipped again.

"Great," she replied, waving goodbye and turning to return to her group of friends.

"Andre," Jade began, "what the hell was that?" He shrugged.

"I don't know, she seemed nice. Antonio seemed nice, too, right? There's nothing wrong with expanding our horizons. Plus, maybe she'll bring some of her friends, and maybe some of those friends will bring beer. You never know." He flashed Beck a knowing smile.

"Good call, dude."

"Ugh, HOW do you guys get such good grades?" Tori whined. "All you ever do is drink and sleep!" Andre smiled, finding her complaint cute, but Beck seemed less amused.

"Okay, am I going to have to separate you two?" Jade asked, using the pavement to raise herself to her feet. "I've got a Spanish class to go to, but I'll see you guys tonight." Beck stood with her and encircled her in a tight embrace, planting a big kiss on the top of her head. She allowed herself to bury her head momentarily into his cologne-scented shirt before lightheartedly smacking his ass and pulling away. Tori rolled her eyes, but linked arms with Jade.

"Eck, get a room."

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**So what did you think of Ivy? What do you think is going to happen at the reservoir? Don't forget to review. **


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm**** soo sorry for the long wait. I did not expect to be so swamped with work. The next few chapters will take place at the reservoir and will have a lot of Bade and Tandre moments. I hope you enjoy the latest chapter! **

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"Who's this?" Tori asked, picking up a silver picture frame from Jade's dresser and examining the photograph. It was a black and white print of a man and a woman standing by the ocean. The girl was on the boy's back, dawning a smile so wide that the expanse of teeth caught Tori's eye immediately. The boy, on the other hand, seemed mysterious with intensely dark eyes and a vigilant gaze painted on his face. Jade glanced quickly at the photo.

"Oh, those are my parents. It was taken right after my dad got back from the war. My mom was just out of high school," Jade answered, directing her attention back to the toenails that she was painting.

"Wow, your dad looks really serious."

"My dad is really serious," Jade stated obviously, still not looking up from the meticulous work. "He wasn't always that way, though," she continued, getting up from her place on the carpet and heading for her desk drawer. She reached inside to reveal another photo- this one also in black and white, but of a slightly younger version of the kids from the first one. The boy was adorned in a football uniform and was kissing the hand of the very obviously giddy girl.

"This was my dad's senior year of high school. It was taken 2 weeks before he left for Saigon," Jade mused, subconsciously running her fingers over the glossy image. She shook her head in nostalgia. "God, look how happy they were." She stared intently at the picture for a few more moments before returning it to its rightful place in the drawer.

"They're still happy, Jade. Your dad just got more serious. There's nothing wrong with that. I guess a war and medical school will do that to you." Jade nodded, having returned to painting her toes in a metallic black shade.

"I guess," she replied drearily. The girls were quiet for a few moments. Tori hadn't meant to put such a damper on the moment. Without really thinking, she turned the framed picture upside down on Jade's dresser. She wasn't sure why.

"Did you know that my mom used to want to be a marine biologist?" Jade asked seemingly arbitrarily. Tori shook her head.

"Me neither," Jade replied. "I was in the attic a few weeks ago and I found some of my mom's old notebooks and journals from where she was our age. She wanted to marry my dad, move to California and spend her life on a boat, studying the ocean." She let out an abrupt huff, shaking her head slightly. "I'm glad to see things worked out so well for her."

"Come on, things did work out well for her. She ended up in a nice house, married to the man she loves, and had 3 beautiful daughters. What else could she ask for?" Tor tried to comfort her friend, but was not really sure what had provoked this onslaught of regretful reminiscence.

"The life she always wanted," Jade answered, looking up at her friend for the first time since the conversation had begun. "Sure, this is okay, Tori, but it's not what she wanted. This wasn't her dream. She wanted to live by the ocean and study whales and dolphins. Instead, she's 39 years old and pigeonholed into a mediocre retail job, living 10 blocks from where she was born and married to a man who doesn't know she's there on the rare occasion that he is. It sucks, Tor."

"Jade, if you mind me asking, what brought all of this on?" Tori asked in a soothing tone that let Jade know she was concerned and not annoyed. Jade shrugged, fixing the nail-polish's cap back onto the bottle and throwing it into the bag of make-up that it had come from.

"I think my parents are getting a divorce," she stated matter-of-factly, in a tone similar to the one she might use when giving a formal oral presentation for her English class. Her voice did not break. She didn't falter in the least. Tori, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes in disbelief.

"What?" she whispered.

"My dad packed a suitcase last week and walked out of the house the next morning like he was going to work. Only, he never came back. Amy overheard him saying something to my mom about 'a separation' and 'time to clear their heads'. That's not what he really meant, though. If my dad does something, he does it all the way. I'd be surprised if he even came back to say goodbye," Jade declared. Tori moved closer to her friend and ran a sympathetic hand up her arm.

"I'm really sorry, Jade. I had no idea."

"Yeah, well, me neither," Jade spoke somewhat bitterly, turning her head away. It was unclear if she was crying or not. There were no tears, but something in her voice was collapsing on top of itself.

"Does Beck know?" Tori asked. She didn't know why she did. If Jade had only found out a week ago and hadn't even told her yet, she had no reason to believe that Beck would know. Jade shook her head.

"I haven't told him. I haven't told anyone except you. He'd just freak out, anyway. I know it's just because he cares so much, but I really don't need the pity brigade following me around right now. I don't think I could handle that."

"Well," Tori offered, her tone of voice raising a little to something a bit more uplifting, "I say forget about it. Your parents are big kids and they know what's best for them. Maybe this is finally the thing that's going to make both of them happy." Tori realize that those words might have sounded unintentionally harsh, but Jade didn't seem to take them as much.

"Yeah, maybe," she sniffed. A few tears had finally gathered in the corners of her eyes, and she reached up to whip them away before they fell. "Whatever, I don't want to think about it anymore. Beck and Andre are going to be here to pick us up in like 20 minutes. Let's go get ready."

Tori reached her hand out to her friend and helped her up from the floor. Jade crossed the room and disappeared into her connecting bathroom, leaving the door cracked. Tori stood alone in the room, surveying it, and she couldn't help but overhear all of the lies it was telling. The walls were green and covered with posters from all of Jade's favorite bands. Expensive clothes littered the floor and hung down from doorknobs and opened drawers. Dozens of medals and trophies were lined across the bookshelf in the corner from the days of her die-hard cheer-leading. Tori took a deep breath, taking in the contents of a room that would never know its keeper. Jade was so much more than all of that. In fact, those things seemed foreign to the image of her best friend that Tori possessed. Pretty pink stuffed animals and flowery sheets seemed so far displaced as to be almost ironic in context of the type of person she knew Jade to be. So strong, she thought. So brave, and it's all going to hell. The room's lies began to sting after too much longer, so Tor pursued Jade to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, trapping inside all of the fraudulent ghosts that were forever haunting her best friend.

* * *

"There's a REASON you don't play football, Beck," Andre pointed out, after having pitched the pigskin to his friend, only to watch him clumsily fumble it. Beck ran after the ball and retrieved it, winding it up and chucking it back at Andre. It hit him square in the stomach.

"Whoops," he chuckled.

The four had at the reservoir around an hour previously. It was set back into the woods a bit, at the end of a winding road that was blocked off by a gothic-looking steal gate. There was a large grassy bank leading up to the water, which was where the gang had chosen to set up. Andre had brought several plastic lawn chairs and coolers full of soda. Beck brought his stereo and an old football. The girls sat on two of the lawn chairs and talked by the water while the guys tossed around the football.

"I wonder when that Antonio guy is going to get her," Andre cogitated aloud to Beck.

"I don't know," he huffed, rolling the football over in his hands and stretching his fingers across the leather. "Dude, I'm telling you, that guy's bad news. I mean, what kind of guy drives a Mustang, wears muscle shirts and leather jackets and ISN'T looking to score with another guy's girlfriend. It's like in the code book or something."

"Don't you think you're overreacting just a tad?" Andre asked, jumping in the air to recover the especially high pass that Beck had thrown him. "Besides, even if he did have some intention of making a move, Jade would deny him immediately. I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Beck looked over at Jade, who was sitting with her knees up under her chin in a white lawn chair down by the water. Even from where he was standing a few yards away, the familiar batting of her eyelashes and the enthusiastic gesticulations when she talked was unmistakable. She was wearing a simple white t-shirt and light jean shorts, and the fact that she was going barefoot made the whole outfit all that much more endearing. She could be wearing a sweat suit and she'd STILL take my breath away, he mused. For a moment, she let her hair down in order to put it back up again properly, and he was hypnotized by the way the long black hair caught the last beams of dying sunlight.

"Uh, Beck?" Andre asked, smiling at his friend's secret indulgence that had not gone so secretively.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just, um, thinking," Beck nodded, walking over to Andre and placing the ball in his hands rather than throwing it to him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"Have you, uh, noticed anything different about Jade lately? I mean, have you noticed her being, I don't know, more quiet than usual?" Beck gestured towards where she was sitting with his sister down by the water's edge. At the moment, she was laughing quite loudly at something Tori had just said, throwing her head back and grabbing her stomach.

"No, not really. Why? Have you?" Andre asked. Beck nodded, not looking away from her.

"It's probably nothing. She's just seemed a little…sad, I guess. Maybe that's why I'm taking the Antonio thing so hard. The fact that she's acting differently, paired with her sudden interest in this new guy, just kind of threw me off-guard. I'm just being paranoid, though, so forget I ever said anything."

At that moment, as if on cue, that proverbial jet black Mustang roared up to where the two boys were standing. Its tires screeched when it came to a halt. Antonio emerged, wearing a pair of swimming trunks and nothing else. Beck was less than pleased.

"What's going on?" he asked, opening his back door and pulling out 2 twelve-packs from the back seat. He held them up in the fashion of a peace offering, with one in each hand. "You guys got ice?"

"Yeah, the coolers are right over there," Andre answered, pointing to where the girls were sitting. "Make yourself at home."

"Yeah, take whatever you'd like. You know, whatever you want, don't hesitate to just…" Beck paused, smiling smugly, "…SNATCH it right up." He snapped on the word "snatched to accentuate his point. He wasn't surprised when Antonio missed it completely.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, walking past them and making his way down to the girls. Beck watched him as he walked away.

"Can you believe that? Swimming trunks. I should have figured. I bet he doesn't even have to work out either. There's probably something in the Italian blood that just MAKES you look like that." Beck had definitely surpassed the enragement stage and was rapidly picking up steam on his way to chronic self-pity.

"Look, dude," Andre said, placing his hand on Beck's shoulder, you know what Jade see when she looks at him?"

"What?"

"Probably about the same thing she sees when she looks at me. Make you feel any better?" he asked.

"Yeah, sort of, actually," Beck kidded, patting his friend on the back in appreciation. "Thanks for putting up with all my shit, man. I know I'm being a real girl about all of this."

"No problem," Andre nodded. "Now, you'd better score tonight, or that title is going to stick."

* * *

Another 30 minutes or so after Antonio's arrival, Ivy pulled up in a van filled with 5 of her friends. She introduced them as being Rose (whom Andre had previously dated), Victor, Sebastian, Frank and Daisy. Jade immediately recognized Victor as the one who she'd been playing Hacky Sack with in the courtyard earlier that day. After the beer, chairs and CD's that they brought were unloaded, the gathering really picked up. The sun had long since vanished, and stars were just beginning to unveil themselves in the expanse of the late summer sky. Music was blasting, people were laughing and talking, and some had even started dancing.

Through all of the commotion, Beck had noticed Jade sitting alone down by the water. She was on the edge of a small dock with her legs dangling down in the water. He wandered away from the conversation he'd been having with Andre and Frank about the colleges they were looking at and made his way over to the small grassy hill to where she was sitting. He took the seat beside her, rolled up his pants legs and sunk his feet into the cold liquid.

"You know," he began, "people are eventually going to be drinking this stuff." He motioned towards their feet, making her grin weakly. He scooted a little closer, sliding a hand over her back.

"What's wrong?" he asked concernedly.

"Nothing," she replied. He knew all along that would be her answer. He had never asked her what was wrong without her answering in that way. She was far too stubborn to get straight to the point, he thought fondly.

"Don't say that. I know you better than that," he coaxed, rubbing circles over her back with his hand. She allowed herself to lean into his body weight and rest her head against his shoulder.

"I know you do."

"So…" he urged, begging her to continue. She sighed deeply and licked her lips.

"I don't know, to tell you the truth. Everything lately has seemed so…fucked up."

"Tell me about it," he asked, using the term as its literal meaning.

"A lot of things are just getting put in perspective, I guess. I really opened up to Tori the other night after we got back from the club about how sometimes I feel more of a possession than a real person. Then, I broke down again this afternoon in front of her because of my parents," she revealed. She regretted it immediately. She didn't want him to know. She didn't want him to pity her. Surprisingly, though, that wasn't the part he chose to focus on.

"I make you feel like a possession?" he asked feebly. She turned under his arm, looking him in the eye.

"Oh, no, honey. I didn't mean you. If anything, you're the only one keeping me sane. I just meant…well, I guess I'm starting to realize my real reasons for quitting the cheerleading squad. Being wanted isn't always a good thing."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"It's kind of like," she started, trying her best to explain, "this water. It's shiny and inviting on the surface, and everyone looking at it admires it and wants to dive in. The only problem is that it's murky and impossible to see what's at the bottom. For all anyone knows, it's only 4 feet deep the whole across. They might dive in and break their necks on the rocks." She looked at Beck to see if he was understanding. He clearly was not. She began again.

"No one care what's underneath, Beck, because the point isn't ACTUALLY dive in. It's the desire to do it. It's the fantasy of it. What's on the bottom has no significance to you or me, because all we want is to dip our feet into it and stare longingly."

"You're the reservoir in this analogy, right?" he asked innocently, earning him a sympathetic chuckle from Jade. He was trying his hardest to understand her point. "I'm really bad with metaphors."

"Yes. I'm the reservoir." She looked directly into his eyes as she said, deepening its impact.

"You think that no one see you?" he asked, staring back with an equal caliber of intensity. She sighed again and turned her gaze away from him to look over the breadth of water.

"I think that no one has seen me in a very long time," she reflected, somewhat vaguely. She wasn't facing him, so she didn't catch the look of twisted pain on his face from that piece of his heart that broke ever so slightly from her words. He reached up with his left hand and turned her chin to face him. He brushed her cheek with the backs of his knuckles.

"I see you." He smiled, hoping that those words were enough. He alone had sufficed to mend her heart very few times during their relationship, but he had always been okay with this. Loving her came with the small price of knowing that she could take care of herself and yield her own pain. If for just a moment in time, though, her heart could forget how brave she was, maybe he could be enough for her, just this once.

She smiled, bringing her hand up to cover his. He leaned in, kissing her lips just firmly enough so that she knew it was there before he broke it. Then, he rose to his feet. Without thinking, because he had done enough of that already that evening, he bent his knees, swung back his arms, and pushed his body forward, sailing right off the dock. He jumped up, bending at the top of his arch and diving in headfirst. He pierced through the surface with a flawless precision, causing only a small ripple of waves. Jade panicked for a moment, having not seeing it coming. She rose quickly to hear feet, prepared to jump in after him. Before she could react, though, his head had already emerged from the water. He was a good 15 feet out when he resurfaced, his hair damp and sticking out in every direction. He smiled at her proudly, knowing that he had proved a point to her that night. He would not ever say anything of his gesture. He would never verbalize what a grand monument it served to his feelings for her. He let the action speak for itself, and as he waded in the water, he caught a glimpse of her smile through the night. He had dived in.

* * *

**How did you guys like the chapter? I know there wasn't much Tandre but there will be next chapter! Please review because I need to know what you guys want to see more of and what I can do to better the story. **


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